Starting Anew
by IssyMellissy
Summary: Bella was glad that Edward was out of her life, after he betrayed her, and she is changing, though not in a normal way. Not knowing what to do, she goes with the flow until she gets a text and meets up with those who she thought she'd never see again. But what happens when she finds that she's mated to one of them? How can she hear better? And why does she want to drink blood?


I made a lot of mistakes in my time, which is saying something since I recently turned eighteen, but the worse of them all was the last one that I remember making, and that was trusting Edward Cullen.

I should have seen early on that he was too controlling to be my mate, but his sheer beauty blinded me, so I had no way to notice. At least until my birthday. I had reasons for not wanting to celebrate, but everyone ignored it, for the most part. I was glad that the whole school was clueless about it. It was enough that the Cullen's knew. Nevertheless, I still downright refused to have a party.

Until I got sick and tired of refusing.

Therefore, me being the clumsy girl that I am, I got a papercut. No big deal, right? Well, when a bunch of bloodthirsty vampires surrounds you, it is a big deal, especially since my blood was, from what they all told me, the best smelling blood in the world. However, in the process of moving me from danger, I was hurt much worse, which resulted in more blood and Carlisle stitching me up.

It was on this night that Edward came to me. He had done so often, almost every night, but on this night, it just…felt different, and I hated that sickening feeling I had over it. By the time I knew of his intentions, he was already on top of me, kissing me, and I could do not a single thing to stop him as he took my virginity, hurting me so much physically _and_ emotionally. Once he was through with me and gone, I had bruises and cuts all over my body, I was bleeding in several places, including down there, and no matter how hard I tried, I could not stop crying. That was the last time that I saw him.

The next day, dad allowed me to skip school since I lied, telling him I got food poisoning at the Cullen's. Now at this point, I believed that every one of them was gone, since that is what Edward told me, so I more or less floated through my life for the next couple of days, until my life began to get even stranger.

I came down for breakfast early on Saturday. Since it was early, I was the only one awake, so I began to look in the fridge for something to satisfy my weird cravings. At the time, I really had no clue what I wanted, until I came back to the present, finding myself eating raw steak with blood leaking out of it. The thing was, the steak had two pieces left, along with the blood that had left the rest of the meat.

I should have been disgusted, but I was anything but. I finished the last two pieces before sniffing the blood, which made me salivate so I picked the plate up, tipping it towards my mouth and devouring it.

By the time Charlie came down an hour later, I finally had my energy back and had done the dishes and made him breakfast. I was about to fold the laundry until the moment that I passed by him, seeing his heart beating through the vein in his neck. My throat caught on fire as I smelled his blood, but how did I smell it?

Suddenly, my phone vibrated from my pocket. I was surprised, since nobody had called or texted in days, but surprise turned to confusion when I saw the text message:

 **From Rosalie Cullen, 09-17-06 8:29 am**

 **Bella, I can only say that I'm terribly sorry for what has happened. Alice and I need you to meet us at our place as soon as you can. We need to talk.**

 **;-}—**

If I was confused, before, that was an understatement, now. I thought that they all left! At that moment, my phone vibrated again, but this time it was from Alice.

 **No overthinking it. Just meet us at 10. Is that okay?**

I sighed, knowing I really had no choice. I sent back a reply before going into my bedroom to get away from Charlie. Once I showered and was back in my room, I stood in front of my floor-length mirror to make myself look somewhat presentable, when the towel dropped from my body.

I nearly fainted.

There, clear as day was a round, defined bump that had once been my flat stomach. I was sure that if a normal, pregnant woman were this big, they'd be around five months along. My heart began to pound and I began to sweat as I came to the realization that I was pregnant by that fucking psycho, Edward! I collapsed on the floor, balling my hands up and hitting it, glad that Charlie had left for work while I was in the shower. I was even more surprised when my hands made a few dents in the floor.

What in the hell was happening to me?

Before I had a chance to freak out, again, I quickly dressed and left my house, not caring how I looked, as I made it to the Cullen's house in record time, being fifteen minutes early. By the time that I shut my door and walked up to the house, Alice and Rosalie were there beside me, both looking at me, worriedly.

I gulped, looking around, scared, as they led me to the living room. I took a deep breath to steady my nerves. "Where is everyone?"

I sat on the couch, suddenly feeling exhausted, as they sat on the coffee table in front of me. As I looked at both of them, my head was spinning with the knowledge that Rose was here, and not glaring at me. But what got me more was that she was looking at me with…compassion, sympathy…did they know?!

"Jasper's the only one with us, but he's in town," Alice said, as if she were easing my fears, but that was not the case. I was never afraid of Jasper, not before and not now! After what their brother did, I was afraid of _him,_ nobody else! Jasper might even be able to help me calm down, some.

"I'm not afraid of him," I whispered, looking down. If anything, I felt guilty for bleeding, which caused him to attack.

"Bella," Rose whispered, taking my hand into hers. That was when I felt a jolt, like an electric shock going through me, making me feel more alive than ever. Looking at Rose, I know she felt it, too, though she was acting more composed.

"What was that?" I asked her, looking into her eyes, surprised to find them a crimson color. As I looked at Alice, I found that her eyes were the same. I was far from afraid, however. If anything, they seemed happier and in more control than before.

However, before Rose could answer my question, she tilted her head to the side, giving Alice an odd look. Suddenly, Alice gasped. "What is that? Another heartbeat?"

"I think so." Even though they were speed talking which, before, I could never understand, I heard them perfectly clear and my face, if possible, paled even more.

"Another heartbeat?" I asked them, and their eyes widened.

"Bella," Alice said, seeming composed. "How could you hear that?"

I bit my lip. "That's a little hard to explain." I got up, pacing nervously as I gathered my thoughts before sniffing, smelling something that was completely delectable, having my senses completely on fire. I had to have that! In addition, just like before, I blacked out, coming to in the garage where a lock was broken and the most delicious thing was sliding down my throat. It was only once I was done that I realized what I had been drinking.

Blood, from a plastic bag.

Moreover, Alice and Rose stood in the corner, looking at me with utter shock, not knowing what to say or how to deal with this.

I had no clue how to deal with it, either.


End file.
